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FORREST SHERMAN-CLASS DESTROYERS<br />
Forrest Sherman-Class Destroyers<br />
Department of the Navy<br />
Washington<br />
District of Columbia<br />
<strong>HAER</strong> <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
<strong>HAER</strong> <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
<strong>WRITTEN</strong> <strong>HISTORICAL</strong> <strong>AND</strong> <strong>DESCRIPTIVE</strong> <strong>DATA</strong><br />
HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD<br />
National Park Service<br />
U.S. Department of the Interior<br />
1849 C Street NW<br />
Washington, <strong>DC</strong> 20240-0001
HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD<br />
Location:<br />
Type of Craft:<br />
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
<strong>HAER</strong> No. <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
Department of the Navy, Washington, District of Columbia<br />
Destroyer<br />
Principal Dimensions: Length (oa): 418’-6”<br />
Length (bp): 407’-0”<br />
Beam (molded): 44’-11.5”<br />
Draft (full): 15’-3/8”<br />
Depth: 25’-2”<br />
Displacement (light ship): 2,734 long tons<br />
Displacement (full):<br />
4,916 long tons<br />
Deadweight:<br />
2,182 long tons<br />
Shaft horsepower (design): 70,000<br />
Speed (design):<br />
33 knots<br />
Endurance 4,500 nm at 20 knots 1<br />
Propulsion:<br />
Dates of Construction: 1953–1959<br />
Designer:<br />
Builders:<br />
Original Owner:<br />
Present Owners:<br />
(The listed dimensions are as-built for USS Forrest Sherman but<br />
were essentially the same for the entire class. Displacements<br />
varied due to differences in original equipment and changes to<br />
made to the vessels over time.)<br />
Geared steam turbines driving twin screws<br />
U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships<br />
Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine<br />
(DD 931–933, 940–42, 945–47)<br />
Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts<br />
(DD 936–38, 943–44)<br />
Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Mississippi<br />
(DD 948–949)<br />
Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co., Seattle, Washington<br />
(DD 950–951)<br />
U.S. Navy<br />
ex-Forrest Sherman: U.S. Navy<br />
ex-Barry: U.S. Navy<br />
ex-Edson: Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum<br />
ex-Turner Joy: Bremerton Historic Ships Association<br />
Balance of class no longer extant<br />
1 Norman Friedman, U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute<br />
Press, 2004), 482.
Disposition:<br />
Significance:<br />
Author: Michael R. Harrison, 2012<br />
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
<strong>HAER</strong> No. <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
Page 2<br />
Three preserved as museums; balance sunk, scrapped, or<br />
slated to be scrapped<br />
The Forrest Sherman class was among the first classes of new<br />
warships developed by the U.S. Navy after World War II. These<br />
eighteen destroyers were also the last all-gun destroyers built<br />
for the navy. Designed for anti-aircraft and anti-submarine<br />
warfare, with particular emphasis on the former, these vessels<br />
served on all the world’s oceans for a quarter of a century, many<br />
taking part in combat operations in the Vietnam War. Four were<br />
converted into guided-missile destroyers in 1965–68, and eight<br />
more were modified for improved anti-submarine capabilities in<br />
1967–71. The largely unmodified Edson was declared a National<br />
Historic Landmark in 1990.<br />
Project Information:<br />
Related<br />
Documentation:<br />
This project is part of the Historic American Engineering Record<br />
(<strong>HAER</strong>), a long-range program to document historically<br />
significant engineering and industrial works in the United<br />
States. The Heritage Documentation Programs of the National<br />
Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, administers the<br />
<strong>HAER</strong> program. The project was sponsored by the U.S. Navy<br />
Inactive Ships Program within NAVSEA 21 (Glen A. Clark,<br />
Deputy Program Manager). Todd Croteau, <strong>HAER</strong> Maritime<br />
Program Coordinator, directed the project, and historian<br />
Michael R. Harrison wrote the historical reports. Ryan Pierce<br />
and Todd Croteau prepared the measured drawings of ex-<br />
Turner Joy. Jet Lowe prepared the large-format photographs of<br />
ex-Turner Joy and ex-Forrest Sherman.<br />
For additional information about the Forrest Sherman–class<br />
destroyers, see the following <strong>HAER</strong> documentation:<br />
USS Forrest Sherman (DD 931), <strong>HAER</strong> No. PA-648<br />
USS Barry (DD 933), <strong>HAER</strong> No. <strong>DC</strong>-68<br />
USS Turner Joy (DD 951), <strong>HAER</strong> No. WA-210
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
<strong>HAER</strong> No. <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
Page 3<br />
PART I. <strong>HISTORICAL</strong> INFORMATION<br />
A. Physical History<br />
1. Dates of construction: The class leader, USS Forrest Sherman, was laid down October 27,<br />
1953, and commissioned November 4, 1955. The eighteenth and final vessel in the class, USS<br />
Turner Joy, was laid down September 30, 1957, and commissioned August 3, 1959. 2<br />
2. Designer: The specifications for these destroyers were developed by the navy’s Ship<br />
Characteristics Board and Bureau of Ships. The working plans were probably created by<br />
Gibbs & Cox, Inc., naval architects, of New York City. 3<br />
3. Builder: The contracts to build these destroyers were divided among four builders, the<br />
Bath Iron Works Corporation, Bath, Maine (DD 931–933, 940–42, 945–47); the Bethlehem<br />
Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts (DD 936–38, 943–44); the Ingalls Shipbuilding<br />
Corporation, Pascagoula, Mississippi (DD 948–949); and the Puget Sound Bridge &<br />
Dredging Company, Seattle, Washington (DD 950–951). 4<br />
4. Original plans: The Forrest Sherman–class destroyers were designed as swift and<br />
maneuverable craft for anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare. They had steel hulls, and,<br />
to reduce topside weight for improved stability and speed, they were built with allaluminum<br />
superstructures. Each vessel was powered by two geared turbine sets driving<br />
twin propellers. Four boilers, two for each engine, provided 1,200 psi steam for a total<br />
power of 70,000 shaft horsepower (shp) and a designed speed of 33 knots. Actual<br />
performance varied. For example, speed trials for the Decatur (DD 936) produced 71,500 shp<br />
for 33.93 knots on 3,650 tons displacement and 34.97 knots on 3,295 tons displacement. 5<br />
The original armament specified for the class included:<br />
• Three 5"/54-caliber Mark 42 single-mount automatic rapid-fire guns. Each gun<br />
mount was fitted with two One Man Control (OMC) stations, one for a surface<br />
2 Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 513.<br />
3 The role of the navy’s Ship Characteristics Board and Bureau of Ships in the design process is well<br />
documented in Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 245–49. Friedman does not mention Gibbs & Cox in<br />
relation to the development of this class, although he does for other classes. Gibbs & Cox collaborated<br />
extensively with the Bureau of Ships for many decades, and a drawing-room model of the DD 931 by<br />
the model shop at Gibbs & Cox in the U.S. Navy’s ship-model collection indicates the firm’s<br />
participation in the design of this class. Further documentation of the firm’s specific role has not yet<br />
been located. See http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/carderock/pub/cnsm/faq/faq_09c.aspx for<br />
information on the model (catalog no. 419); for general references to Gibbs & Cox’s postwar work on<br />
destroyers, see Frank O. Braynard, By Their Works Ye Shall Know Them: The Life and Ships of William<br />
Francis Gibbs, 1886–1967 (New York: Gibbs & Cox, 1968), 183.<br />
4 John Moore, ed., Jane’s American Fighting Ships of the 20th Century (New York: Mallard Press, 1991),<br />
168.<br />
5 Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 482.
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<strong>HAER</strong> No. <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
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gunner, one for an anti-aircraft gunner. The latter OMC was eventually removed on<br />
all 5"/54 gun mounts on all ships.<br />
• Two twin-mount 3"/50-caliber Mark 22 anti-aircraft guns<br />
• Four 21" Mark 25 ASW torpedo tubes<br />
• Two triple 12.75" Mark 32 ASW torpedo tubes<br />
• Two Mark 10/11 ASW projectors (Hedgehogs)<br />
• Mark 56 (forward) and Mark 68 (aft) Gun Fire Control Systems. The positions of<br />
these gun directors were reversed on the final seven vessels.<br />
• Mark 105 Underwater Battery Fire Control System<br />
• SQS-4 sonar with dual maintenance of close contact<br />
• Electronic countermeasures<br />
• Air search radar<br />
• Surface radar 6<br />
Hulls from Decatur (DD 936) onward had increased freeboard forward to improve dryness. 7<br />
The last seven hulls, starting with Hull (DD 945), had slightly redesigned bows. 8<br />
Each ship was equipped with a hull-mounted sonar dome. Although all received updated<br />
sonar systems at different points in their careers, only the Barry had its replacement sonar<br />
repositioned into a bow dome, the first such installation on a ship of the U.S. Navy. This<br />
arrangement required redesigning the ship’s bow, which eliminated the port and starboard<br />
anchors in favor of a stem anchor. 9<br />
The ships were designed with accommodations for a crew of 315 plus 22 officers. In<br />
planning the accommodations, the navy’s Bureau of Ships hired the firm of Lippincott and<br />
Margulies to study crew requirements and make design recommendations. 10 The navy<br />
magazine All Hands described the resulting crew spaces in a 1953 article.<br />
Habitability has been given careful study too. Compartment arrangement<br />
and color schemes were studied and specified in detail to a greater extent<br />
than previously done in destroyer design. These features include more living<br />
area per man and freedom from direct sources of noise, heat and vibration.<br />
Each living space has a small recreational area separated from the berthing<br />
6 Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 249, 482. According to Friedman, only the DD 931 and 932 were<br />
completed with the Mark 25 torpedo tubes, although DD 933 later acquired them.<br />
7 This modification was made on the suggestion of Capt. P. W. Snyder of the Bureau of Ships after<br />
observing destroyers in operation during Exercise Mariner in the Atlantic in 1953. “The sheer line of<br />
these ships was raised three feet at the bow, tapering down to the original sheer line at about the<br />
forward gun. The FY 53 units were too far along to be so modified.” Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 249.<br />
8 Raymond V. B. Blackman, ed., Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1971–72 (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.,<br />
1971), 467; Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 249.<br />
9 Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 251; Moore, Jane’s American Fighting Ships, 168.<br />
10 R. W. Venable and R. F. ErkenBrack, “Navy’s Newest Destroyer,” Bureau of Ships Journal 2, no. 3<br />
(July 1953): 4.
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
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area and furnished with tables and chairs. Crew bunks will be equipped with<br />
individual bunk lights and canvas containers for holding personal effects. In<br />
addition, living spaces, control and vital spaces are air-conditioned.<br />
The crew’s messing space, which doubles as a recreational space, galley and<br />
scullery are located in a compact area on the main deck amidships. A boon to<br />
mess cooks will be the conveniently located garbage disposal unit.<br />
Accommodations for a crew of 315 men and 22 officers are about equally<br />
divided forward and aft.<br />
Washroom and water closet spaces are separate compartments. Towel drying<br />
facilities and individual drawers for stowage of toilet articles have been<br />
provided for the entire crew. One washroom will have a unique washstand<br />
which incorporates elbow operated spray heads and thermostatically<br />
controlled water. The need for all these features was indicated by wartime<br />
experiences of existing destroyers. 11<br />
5. Original cost: Each ship cost about $26 million. 12<br />
6. Alterations and additions: The development of surface-to-air missiles in the 1950s and<br />
1960s lessened the strategic usefulness of all-gun warships. A program was initiated in 1964<br />
to update the Forrest Shermans by converting them into guided-missile destroyers (DDGs).<br />
This work, begun in 1965, comprised removing the two aft 5"/54 gun mounts and replacing<br />
them with Tartar missile systems and ASROC launchers. Other new equipment included<br />
SPS-48 three-dimensional radar systems, new fire control systems (Mark 78 for missile<br />
guidance; Mark 68 retained for gunfire control), updated sonar (SQS-23), and new electronic<br />
control equipment. The original bow 5"/54 gun mounts and the two triple ASW torpedo<br />
tubes were retained from the original armament. Just four ships were converted to this<br />
arrangement before the program was canceled due to cost.<br />
Eight additional vessels in the class received extensive anti-submarine warfare<br />
modernizations between 1967 and 1971. This work included the removal of one of the after<br />
5"/54 gun mounts and replacing it with an ASROC launcher, plus the installation of new<br />
torpedo tubes, SQS-23 sonar arrays, stern-mounted SQS-35 variable depth sonar arrays, and<br />
expanded deckhouses to contain new electronics systems. The modified ships lost their 3"<br />
guns and Hedgehogs. The remaining six ships in the class were not similarly modified due<br />
to cost and remained largely in their original configurations throughout their careers. It<br />
should be noted, however, that their weapons, propulsion, and other systems were<br />
extensively overhauled from time to time, and redundant equipment, such as extra depthcharge<br />
racks, Hedgehogs, and the forward 3" gun mounts, were removed on most ships. 13<br />
11 “New Class of Large Destroyers Under Construction,” All Hands (November 1953): 36.<br />
12 John Moore, ed., Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1987–88 (New York: Jane’s Publishing Inc., 1987), 748.<br />
13 John Moore, ed., Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1982–83 (London: Jane’s Publishing Co., 1982), 635, 639;<br />
idem, ed., Jane’s American Fighting Ships, 168; Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 247, 249, 250–52.
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
<strong>HAER</strong> No. <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
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Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
Guided-missile destroyer<br />
conversions ASW modernized Not converted<br />
John Paul Jones DD 932/DDG 32 Barry DD 933 Forrest Sherman DD 931<br />
Decatur DD 936/DDG 31 Davis DD 937 Bigelow DD 942<br />
Somers DD 947/DDG 34 Jonas Ingram DD 938 Mullinnix DD 944<br />
Parsons DD 949/DDG 33 Manley DD 940 Hull DD 945<br />
Du Pont DD 941 Edson DD 946<br />
Blandy DD 943 Turner Joy DD 951<br />
Morton DD 948<br />
Richard S. Edwards DD 950<br />
B. Historical Context<br />
In the first decades of the twentieth century, destroyers, descended from the fast “torpedoboat<br />
destroyers” that developed toward the end of the nineteenth century, became the<br />
primary raiding, screening, and patrol craft of the world’s navies because of their<br />
maneuverability, modest size, and multi-purpose flexibility. Those in service at the start of<br />
World War II were armed for ship-to-ship and anti-submarine fighting and designed for<br />
speed, endurance, and good sea-keeping. Combat experience during the war led the U.S.<br />
Navy to order increased anti-aircraft capabilities built into its destroyers, making them, in<br />
the words of Rear Adm. Mahlon S. Tisdale, commander of destroyers in the Pacific, “the<br />
nearest approach to the ‘all purpose’ vessel of any combatant type.” The great numbers of<br />
Fletcher-, Allen M. Sumner–, and Gearing-class destroyers built during and just after the war<br />
were equipped to effectively protect merchant convoys and capital ships from increasingly<br />
advanced enemy submarines and aircraft. 14<br />
Many warships on order for the government were cancelled at war’s end, but destroyer<br />
construction continued, as military leaders saw that anti-submarine and anti-aircraft<br />
warfare (ASW and AAW) would remain primary strategic concerns for the postwar navy.<br />
Soviet military construction in the late 1940s and 1950s proved this to be correct, and many<br />
existing destroyers were overhauled to strengthen their ASW and AAW capabilities. These<br />
vessels were also seen as useful for “shore bombardment, radar picketing, transfer of mail<br />
and personnel, aircraft guarding, air-sea rescue, and many other tasks.” 15<br />
The first new class of U.S. destroyers developed after the war, the Mitschers, laid down in<br />
1949, were designed larger than existing destroyers to carry more types of ASW equipment.<br />
14 Quote from Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 235. Friedman thoroughly discusses the development of<br />
the destroyer in his early chapters. See also chapters 2 and 3 in Eric W. Osborne, Destroyers: An<br />
Illustrated History of their Impact (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005). The United States built<br />
destroyers in great numbers during the war, there being in the end 175 Fletcher-class ships, 58<br />
Sumner-class, and 98 Gearing-class.<br />
15 Venable and ErkenBrack, “Navy’s Newest Destroyer,” 2.
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
<strong>HAER</strong> No. <strong>DC</strong>-<strong>69</strong><br />
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In fact, their expanded size led the navy to reclassify them before completion as destroyer<br />
leaders, a new type. Characterized by historian Norman Friedman as “largely experimental”<br />
and “designed to incorporate the fruits of wartime research,” these ships were expensive<br />
and not particularly successful in service. Only four ships were built in the class, leaving the<br />
navy in need of a general-purpose destroyer design that would better balance speed and<br />
endurance with ASW and AAW capabilities. 16<br />
The design the navy developed became the Forrest Sherman class. In 1951, the Chief of Naval<br />
Operations rejected the Mitscher class as the basis for mass production of new destroyers<br />
and asked the Ship Characteristics Board (SCB) to develop specifications for a destroyer of<br />
“reasonable” size. The SCB proceeded to design an update of the highly successful wartime<br />
Fletcher class, with strong AAW characteristics and somewhat weakened ASW capabilities.<br />
The board’s new type, designated SCB 85, had a maximum standard displacement of 2,500<br />
long tons, three 5"/54-caliber single-mount guns, four twin 3"/50-caliber anti-aircraft guns,<br />
four fixed torpedo tubes, two fixed Hedgehog anti-submarine projectors, and depth charges.<br />
Maximum speed was set at 32 knots and endurance at 4,500 miles. After additional<br />
discussion with the Bureau of Ships, which had developed its own specifications for a massproduction<br />
destroyer between December 1950 and March 1951, the SCB proposed a revised<br />
arrangement: a standard displacement of 2,800 tons and armament including three 5"/54s<br />
(one forward and two aft) and two twin 3"/50 guns. 17<br />
“The new destroyers will be able to perform all the usual functions of a destroyer,” an<br />
article for the navy personnel magazine All Hands announced in 1953, “such as antisubmarine<br />
and anti-aircraft protection in the screen, shore bombardment, radar picketing,<br />
transfer of mail and personnel, aircraft guarding and air-sea rescue, and perform them<br />
better.” 18 All told, the navy built eighteen vessels to this design, dividing their cost across<br />
four fiscal years. 19 These were the first vessels in the U.S. Navy that concentrated more<br />
firepower aft than forward, a choice that reflected the desire for improved AAW and shorebombardment<br />
capabilities over surface-attack ability, while the four fixed torpedo tubes,<br />
dual Hedgehogs, and depth-charge racks included in the original design suited ASW<br />
work. 20<br />
The increased production of jet aircraft in the 1950s, however, rendered ship-mounted antiaircraft<br />
guns ineffective against fighter and airborne nuclear attacks, and the armament<br />
choices made for the Forrest Sherman class were obsolete by the early 1960s. To meet new<br />
threats, weapons research attention shifted during the 1950s to the development of more<br />
16 Quote from Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 245; Osborne, Destroyers, 120.<br />
17 Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 246–47.<br />
18 “New Class of Large Destroyers Under Construction,” All Hands (November 1953): 36.<br />
19 DD 931–933 were authorized in fiscal year 1953, 936–938 in FY 54, 940–944 in FY 55, and 945–951<br />
in FY 56; Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 249.<br />
20 Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 247, 249. Friedman speculates that the decision to place two gun<br />
mounts aft and only one forward may also have been influenced by a desire to improve dryness on<br />
the forward deck.
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effective surface-to-air (SAM) missile systems, which the navy began deploying in the mid<br />
1950s. Even as the last Forrest Sherman units were still at their builders, the navy<br />
reconfigured its next class of destroyers and next class of frigates as guided-missile ships,<br />
resulting in the Farragut class (ten ships, commissioned in 1960 and 1961) and the Charles F.<br />
Adams class, a lengthened version of the Forrest Sherman design (twenty-three ships,<br />
commissioned between 1960 and 1964). 21<br />
As a result of these developments, the Forrest Shermans became the last American destroyers<br />
built as all-gun ships, but only six of the eighteen vessels in the class remained this way<br />
throughout their careers. Four were converted in mid 1960s to guided-missile destroyers,<br />
receiving the Tartar SAM system and ASROC, the navy’s anti-submarine rocket missile<br />
system. These two systems became the mainstays of the navy’s new focus on missile-based<br />
destroyers, with eight additional Forrest Sherman–class vessels receiving the latter system<br />
between 1967 and 1971. 22<br />
Although originally intended to remain in service into the 1990s, the entire class was retired<br />
in 1982 and 1983 due to ongoing problems with their high-pressure engine systems. 23<br />
C. Operational History<br />
The Forrest Sherman–class destroyers entered service between 1955 and 1959. They were<br />
deployed across the globe, taking part in American military operations in the Atlantic,<br />
Pacific, and Indian oceans, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and many other seas. Most<br />
saw action in southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, some serving for extended periods on<br />
the gunline shelling targets in North Vietnam. The Turner Joy, in fact, was one of two U.S.<br />
destroyers involved in the Tonkin Gulf Incident, an alleged attack by North Vietnamese<br />
gunboats that precipitated greater American involvement in the war in August 1964.<br />
The service life of the Forrest Sherman is typical. Like other destroyers in the class named for<br />
recently deceased navy heroes and leaders, the ship was christened by the widow of its<br />
namesake. (Those named for long-dead naval heroes were usually christened by<br />
descendants.) Upon commissioning, the vessel spent a few months in shake down training,<br />
sailing in the Caribbean and along the South African coast. In 1957 and 1958, the ship sailed<br />
in the Caribbean, the Atlantic, the North Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, transiting<br />
both the Suez and Panama canals. Succeeding years were similar, with training exercises in<br />
various waters punctuated by goodwill and recreational port calls, periods of repair and<br />
overhaul, and the occasional at-sea rescue. The Forrest Sherman did not serve in southeast<br />
21 Osborne, Destroyers, 128–31.<br />
22 Osborne, Destroyers, 131.<br />
23 Moore, Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1987–88, 745.
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Asia during the Vietnam War, but was deployed to the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and<br />
on the Atlantic. 24<br />
The Forrest Sherman took part in numerous ceremonial duties. It sailed to Washington, D.C.,<br />
in January 1956 to represent the Atlantic fleet at the inauguration of President Eisenhower.<br />
In 1959, it was one of a number of vessels present in Montreal at the dedication of the St.<br />
Lawrence Seaway. It then sailed through all five Great Lakes paying visits to inland ports.<br />
During 1961, the ship made a goodwill tour to countries in Africa, carrying 10,000 lollipops<br />
to hand out to children who came aboard. 25<br />
“FORREST SHERMAN is especially well suited for providing off shore Naval gunfire<br />
support to assist Marine amphibious landings,” a “Welcome Aboard” booklet proclaimed in<br />
1980,<br />
but she is versatile enough to detect and prosecute submarine contacts, act as<br />
a search and rescue unit, or provide screening for a task group. Fleetwide<br />
inspections have proven FORREST SHERMAN to be one of the best ships in<br />
the U.S. Navy, and our officers and crew take pride in keeping her that<br />
way. . . . 26<br />
This booklet also informed visitors that, as the oldest active destroyer in the fleet and one of<br />
the few to retain its original guns, the ship was called “the last of the great gunships.” The 5"<br />
main guns, it also revealed, were nicknamed Judge, Jury, and Executioner. 27<br />
During her 24 years of service, [the booklet concluded,] FORREST<br />
SHERMAN has compiled a distinguished record of 18 major overseas<br />
deployments, carrying the American flag to countless ports around the<br />
world. She has operated with the navies of over twenty allied nations,<br />
helping to maintain trust, understanding, and international teamwork.<br />
FORREST SHERMAN has previously been homeported in Newport, Rhode<br />
Island and Norfolk, Virginia. She is currently based in Charleston, South<br />
Carolina, as a member of Destroyer Squadron Four. 28<br />
24 “USS Forrest Sherman Ship’s History,” Jan. 6, 1966, in Naval History and Heritage Command,<br />
Ships’ History Branch, Ships’ Histories, box 295a, folder “Forrest Sherman (DD 931) General<br />
Histories.”<br />
25 ”USS Forrest Sherman Ship’s History”; “The good ship Lollipop,” Guardian (UK), Aug. 24, 1961,<br />
9.<br />
26 “Welcome Aboard USS Forrest Sherman,” booklet, ca. 1980, in Naval History and Heritage<br />
Command, Ships’ History Branch, Ships’ Histories, box 295a, folder “Forrest Sherman (DD 931)<br />
Welcome Aboard.”<br />
27 ”Welcome Aboard USS Forrest Sherman.”<br />
28 “Welcome Aboard USS Forrest Sherman.”
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The entire class, including the four hulls converted to DDGs, was decommissioned in 1982<br />
and 1983 due to chronic problems with the high-pressure steam engine systems. The Edson,<br />
used as a training vessel since 1977, alone was excepted, surviving in service until 1988. 29<br />
All but four were initially laid-up in reserve, but all had been struck from the navy list by<br />
the end of 1990. Nine were sunk as targets, and five were scrapped. Three are now<br />
preserved as museums or slated to become museums. The Forrest Sherman, although sought<br />
by a nonprofit group for a museum, is to be scrapped by 2013.<br />
D. Vessel Summaries<br />
USS Forrest Sherman DD 931<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 324<br />
Laid down: 27 October 1953<br />
Launched: 5 February 1955<br />
Delivered: 4 November 1955<br />
Commissioned: 9 November 1955<br />
Decommissioned: 5 November 1982<br />
Struck: 27 July 1990<br />
Disposition: Slated for scrapping 2012 30<br />
Named for Adm. Forrest P. Sherman (1896–1951). 31<br />
USS John Paul Jones DD 932 / DDG 32<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 325<br />
Laid down: 18 January 1954<br />
Launched: 7 May 1955<br />
Delivered: 30 March 1956<br />
Commissioned: 5 April 1956<br />
Decommissioned: 15 December 1982<br />
Struck: 30 November 1985<br />
Deposition: Sunk as target 2001<br />
Named for Cdre. John Paul Jones (1747–92). Converted to guided-missile destroyer,<br />
1966–67; redesignated DDG 32 on March 15, 1967. 32<br />
29 Moore, Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1987–88, 745.<br />
30 Construction and service dates here and following compiled from Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 513,<br />
and Tim Colton, “Destroyers built since World War II,” Shipbuilding History,<br />
http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/navalships/destroyers3.htm, accessed Jan. 26, 2012.<br />
31 ”Forrest Sherman,” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS),<br />
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/f3/forrest_sherman.htm.<br />
32 “John Paul Jones,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/j3/john_paul_jones.htm.
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USS Barry DD 933<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 326<br />
Laid down: 15 March 1954<br />
Launched: 1 October 1955<br />
Delivered: 31 August 1956<br />
Commissioned: 7 September 1956<br />
Decommissioned: 5 November 1982<br />
Struck: 31 January 1983<br />
Disposition: Retained by the navy as a display ship at the Washington Navy<br />
Yard, Washington, D.C., 1983.<br />
Named for Cdre. John Barry (1745–1803). First ship of the U.S. Navy to have sonar<br />
installed in a bow dome, 1959. Vessel took part in the quarantine of Cuba during the<br />
Cuban Missile Crisis, October–November 1962, and saw service along the coast of<br />
Vietnam, 1965–66. Extensively altered 1967–68 for improved anti-submarine warfare<br />
capability. Overhauled 1976–77 and again in 1980. The ship earned two battle stars for<br />
service in the Vietnam War. 33<br />
USS Decatur DD 936 / DDG 31<br />
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts; hull number 1648<br />
Laid down: 13 September 1954<br />
Launched: 15 December 1955<br />
Delivered: 30 November 1956<br />
Commissioned: 7 December 1956<br />
Decommissioned: 30 June 1983<br />
Struck: 30 March 1988<br />
Disposition: Sunk as target off Hawaii, 21 July 2004<br />
Named for Cdre. Stephen Decatur (1779–1820). The Decatur was deployed largely to the<br />
Mediterranean and the Atlantic from 1956 to 1964. The ship was severely damaged after<br />
running under the bow overhang of the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain after refueling<br />
operations on May 4, 1964. During 1965–67, the ship was repaired and converted to a<br />
guided-missile destroyer, being reclassified as DDG 31 on September 15, 1966. The ship<br />
made tours to Vietnam in 1968, 1970, 1973, and 1974, for which service it received six<br />
battle stars. The ship was used as the navy’s Self Defense Test Ship at Fort Hueneme,<br />
California, from 1993 to 2003, before being sunk as a target off Hawaii in 2004. 34<br />
33 “Barry,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b3/barry-iii.htm.<br />
34 “Decatur,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d2/decatur-iv.htm.
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USS Davis DD 937<br />
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts; hull number 1649<br />
Laid down: 1 February 1955<br />
Launched: 28 March 1956<br />
Delivered: 28 February 1957<br />
Commissioned: 6 March 1957<br />
Decommissioned: 20 December 1982<br />
Struck: 27 July 1990<br />
Disposition: Scrapped 1994<br />
Named for Cmdr. George F. Davis (1911–45), posthumous recipient of the Medal of<br />
Honor for actions during World War II. The unexceptional career of the Davis took the<br />
vessel all over the world, where it participated in operations in the Atlantic, the<br />
Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Persian Gulf, the western Pacific, and many other<br />
waters. The destroyer was deployed to Vietnam twice, in 1968–<strong>69</strong> and again in 1972, and<br />
underwent two extensive periods of overhaul, the first from October 19<strong>69</strong> to October<br />
1970, and the second from December 1974 to December 1975. The destroyer was<br />
awarded five battle stars and two meritorious unit commendations for service in<br />
Vietnam. 35<br />
USS Jonas Ingram DD 938<br />
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts; hull number 1650<br />
Laid down: 15 June 1955<br />
Launched: 8 July 1956<br />
Delivered: 10 July 1957<br />
Commissioned: 19 July 1957<br />
Decommissioned: 4 March 1983<br />
Struck: 15 June 1983<br />
Sunk as target: 23 July 1988<br />
Named for Adm. Jonas Ingram (1886–1952). The destroyer was extensively overhauled<br />
in 19<strong>69</strong>–70 for enhanced anti-submarine capability. As on other modified vessels in the<br />
class, an ASROC launcher replaced one of the destroyer’s 5" gun turrets, and more<br />
modern electronics were installed. 36<br />
USS Manley DD 940<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 327<br />
Laid down: 10 February 1955<br />
Launched: 12 April 1956<br />
Delivered: 25 January 1957<br />
35 “Davis,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d2/davis-iv.htm.<br />
36 “Jonas Ingram,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/j4/jonas_ingram.htm.
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Commissioned: 1 February 1957<br />
Decommissioned: 4 March 1983<br />
Struck: 1 June 1990<br />
Disposition: Scrapped 1994<br />
Named for Revolutionary War Captain John Manley (1733–93). Overhauled for ASW<br />
modernization, 1970–71. 37<br />
USS Du Pont DD 941<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 328<br />
Laid down: 11 May 1955<br />
Launched: 8 September 1956<br />
Delivered: 21 June 1957<br />
Commissioned: 1 July 1957<br />
Decommissioned: 4 March 1983<br />
Struck: 1 June 1990<br />
Disposition: Scrapped 1992<br />
Named for RAdm. Samuel Francis Du Pont (1803–65). Modernized for enhanced ASW<br />
capabilities, 19<strong>69</strong>–70. 38<br />
USS Bigelow DD 942<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 329<br />
Laid down: 6 July 1955<br />
Launched: 2 February 1957<br />
Delivered: 1 November 1957<br />
Commissioned: 8 November 1957<br />
Decommissioned: 5 November 1982<br />
Struck: 1 June 1990<br />
Disposition: Sold for scrap 1993, but taken back by the navy in 1996 and sunk as<br />
target 2003<br />
Named for Water Tender Second Class Elmer Charles Bigelow (1920–45), posthumous<br />
Medal of Honor recipient for actions in World War II. This vessel participated in the<br />
blockade of Cuba in fall 1962 and later took part in combat operations in Vietnam. 39<br />
USS Blandy DD 943<br />
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts; hull number 1651<br />
Laid down: 29 December 1955<br />
37 “Manley,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m3/manley-iii.htm.<br />
38 “Du Pont,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d6/du_pont-iii.htm.<br />
39 “The Naval Quarantine of Cuba, 1962,” Naval History and Heritage Command,<br />
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-5a.htm; “Bigelow,” DANFS,<br />
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b6/bigelow-i.htm.
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Launched: 19 December 1956<br />
Delivered: 20 November 1957<br />
Commissioned: 26 November 1957<br />
Decommissioned: 5 November 1983<br />
Struck: 27 July 1990<br />
Disposition: Scrapped 1994<br />
Named for Adm. William H. P. Blandy (1890–1954), one-time commander-in-chief of the<br />
Atlantic fleet. The destroyer was extensively overhauled in 19<strong>69</strong>–70 for enhanced antisubmarine<br />
capability. 40<br />
USS Mullinnix DD 944<br />
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts; hull number 1652<br />
Laid down: 5 April 1956<br />
Launched: 18 March 1957<br />
Delivered: 26 February 1958<br />
Commissioned: 7 March 1958<br />
Decommissioned: 11 August 1983<br />
Struck: 26 July 1990<br />
Disposition: Sunk as target 23 August 1992<br />
Named for RAdm. Henry Mullinnix (1892–1943). 41<br />
USS Hull DD 945<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 330<br />
Laid down: 12 September 1956<br />
Launched: 10 August 1957<br />
Delivered: 25 June 1958<br />
Commissioned: 3 July 1958<br />
Decommissioned: 11 July 1983<br />
Struck: 15 October 1983<br />
Disposition: Sunk as target 7 April 1998<br />
Named for Cdre. Isaac Hull (1773–1843). From 1975–79, the Hull mounted an<br />
experimental 8"/55-caliber Mark 71 gun on its foredeck. 42<br />
USS Edson DD 946<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 331<br />
Laid down: 3 December 1956<br />
Launched: 1 January 1958<br />
40 “Blandy,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/blandy-i.htm.<br />
41 “Mullinnix,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m15/mullinnix.htm.<br />
42 “Hull,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h9/hull-iv.htm; Friedman, U.S. Destroyers,<br />
513.
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Delivered: 31 October 1958<br />
Commissioned: 7 November 1958<br />
Decommissioned: 15 December 1988<br />
Struck: 15 October 1983<br />
Disposition: Museum at New York, 1989; returned to navy 2004; slated to<br />
become museum at Bay City, Michigan, 2012<br />
Named for Marine Corps Major Gen. Merritt Austin Edson (1897–1955). This destroyer<br />
served in the Pacific initially. In 1964, it was deployed to Vietnam. The ship saw further<br />
service as a gunfire support ship in Vietnam from 1965 to 1971 and later served in the<br />
Atlantic and Caribbean before being assigned to the Naval Reserve Force in 1977 for use<br />
as a training ship for reservists and engineers at Newport, Rhode Island. 43 At the time of<br />
its decommissioning, the Edson was the final Forrest Sherman–class destroyer in service.<br />
It was also the last vessel in the U.S. Navy armed solely with guns.<br />
In 1989, the navy transferred the vessel to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, and it<br />
was placed on public view at Pier 86 in Manhattan. Based on its integrity as a largely<br />
unaltered example of its class, the vessel was declared a National Historic Landmark on<br />
June 21, 1990. 44 The museum returned the Edson to the navy in 2004 when extensive<br />
repairs were made to its pier in New York, after which the navy solicited new<br />
applications for donation of the ship. The navy accepted the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship<br />
Museum’s application in 2010, and the vessel was towed to Bay City, Michigan, in<br />
2012. 45<br />
USS Somers DD 947 / DDG 34<br />
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; hull number 332<br />
Laid down: 4 March 1957<br />
Launched: 30 May 1958<br />
Delivered: 1 April 1959<br />
Commissioned: 3 April 1959<br />
Decommissioned: 19 November 1982<br />
Struck: 26 April 1988<br />
Disposition: Sunk as target 22 July 1998<br />
43 Moore, Jane’s Fighting Ships 1982–83, 639.<br />
44 James P. Delgado, National Historic Landmarks nomination for “USS Edson (DD-946),” U.S.<br />
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1990.<br />
45 “Ex-Edson (DD 946),” Navy Inactive Ships Program, http://www.navsea.navy.mil/<br />
teamships/Inactiveships/Donation/pdf/ships_on_hold/soh_ex_edson.pdf; ”Saginaw Valley Naval<br />
Ship Museum News,” http://www.ussedson.org/index.php?module=publisher, both accessed<br />
March 26, 2012; “Contract for the donation of the Destroyer ex-Edson (DD 946),” http://www.navsea<br />
.navy.mil/teamships/Inactiveships/Donation/pdf/museum_transfer_contracts/<br />
DOCedson_contract.PDF, accessed June 20, 2012.
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Named for Lt. Richard Somers (c1778–1804). Converted to a guided-missile destroyer<br />
between April 1966 and February 1968, and redesignated as DDG 34 on March 15, 1967.<br />
The ship received five battle stars for service in the Vietnam War. 46<br />
USS Morton DD 948<br />
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss.; hull number 1019<br />
Laid down: 4 March 1957<br />
Launched: 23 May 1958<br />
Delivered: 14 May 1959<br />
Commissioned: 26 May 1959<br />
Decommissioned: 22 November 1982<br />
Struck: 7 February 1990<br />
Disposition: Scrapped 1992<br />
Named for Cmdr. Dudley Walker Morton (1907–45). The ship was modernized for<br />
enhanced ASW capabilities between September 19<strong>69</strong> and August 1970. 47<br />
USS Parsons DD 949 / DDG 33<br />
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss.; hull number 1020<br />
Laid down: 17 June 1957<br />
Launched: 19 August 1958<br />
Delivered: 26 October 1959<br />
Commissioned: 29 October 1959<br />
Decommissioned: 19 November 1982<br />
Struck: 15 May 1984<br />
Disposition: Sunk as target 25 April 1989<br />
Named for RAdm. William Sterling Parsons (1901–53). This vessel was converted to a<br />
guided-missile destroyer between January 1966 and October 1967, being reclassified as<br />
DDG 33 in March 1967. 48<br />
USS Richard S. Edwards DD 950<br />
Builder:<br />
Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Company, Seattle, Washington<br />
Laid down: 20 December 1956<br />
Launched: 24 September 1957<br />
Commissioned: 5 February 1959<br />
Decommissioned: 15 December 1982<br />
Struck: 7 February 1990<br />
Disposition: Sunk as target 12 May 1997<br />
46 “Somers,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s15/sommers-vi.htm.<br />
47 “Morton,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m15/morton.htm.<br />
48 “Parsons,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p2/parsons.htm.
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Named for Adm. Richard S. Edwards (1885–1956). Underwent ASW modernization in<br />
1970. The ship received six battle stars for service in Vietnam. 49<br />
USS Turner Joy DD 951<br />
Builder:<br />
Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Company, Seattle, Washington<br />
Laid down: 30 September 1957<br />
Launched: 5 May 1958<br />
Commissioned: 3 August 1959<br />
Decommissioned: 22 November 1982<br />
Struck: 13 February 1990<br />
Disposition: Museum at Bremerton, Washington, 1991<br />
Named for Adm. Charles Turner Joy (1895–1956). The Turner Joy is best known as one of<br />
two U.S. Navy destroyers that took part in the Tonkin Gulf Incident which led to the<br />
escalation of American involvement in Vietnam. USS Maddox evaded a North<br />
Vietnamese torpedo-boat attack on August 2, 1964, and two days later both Maddox and<br />
Turner Joy took evasive action against and fired upon radar ghosts their crews mistook<br />
for attacking boats. Reports of this supposed attack prompted Congress to authorize<br />
deeper intervention in the region and President Johnson to order air strikes against<br />
North Vietnam. 50<br />
The Turner Joy was extensively overhauled in 1972, receiving new 5"/54 gun mounts.<br />
The ship was overhauled again in 1978 after spending much of the preceding two years<br />
in port because of engineering difficulties. The ship received nine battle stars for service<br />
in the Vietnam War. 51<br />
PART II. STRUCTURAL / DESIGN INFORMATION<br />
A. General Description<br />
1. Overall: With narrow, all-welded steel hulls, low displacement, aluminum-alloy<br />
superstructures, and high-pressure turbine engines, the eighteen destroyers in the Forrest<br />
Sherman–class were designed for speed and maneuverability to support anti-aircraft and<br />
anti-submarine warfare missions. All were originally armed with three main 5" single-gun<br />
mounts, two twin 3" guns mounts, and ASW torpedo tubes, these and the two tripod masts<br />
supporting radar, communication, and electronic countermeasures antennas being the<br />
49 “Richard S. Edwards,” DANFS,<br />
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r6/brichard_s_edwards.htm.<br />
50 “Turner Joy,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t9/turner_joy.htm. For a thorough<br />
discussion of the Tonkin Gulf Incident, see Edwin E. Moïse, Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the<br />
Vietnam War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996).<br />
51 “Turner Joy,” DANFS, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t9/turner_joy.htm.
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outwardly visible evidence of the vessels’ military purpose. Twin funnels reflected the twin<br />
engine rooms with their corresponding firerooms. A sonar dome is mounted beneath the<br />
hull near the bow.<br />
The interiors of these vessels were highly compartmentalized to provide a high level of<br />
stability in the event of a hull breech. Crew living compartments, store rooms, reefer<br />
compartments, the sonar equipment, and the mechanism and magazine for the forward 5"<br />
gun were clustered in the bow forward of the superstructure. The middle third of the hull<br />
was taken up by the four engine and fireroom compartments, divided into pairs by fuel<br />
tanks and the interior-communications room. Additional crew living spaces and the<br />
magazines, hoists, and other equipment for the after gun mounts were clustered in the<br />
stern. 52<br />
2. Decks: The lowest level in the hull contained fuel and ballast tanks forward and aft with<br />
the bed plates for the engines and boilers amidships. There were then three platform decks<br />
forward and two platform decks aft of the engine rooms.<br />
The forward and aftmost gun mounts rested on the main deck. Between them, the<br />
superstructure contained crew quarters, with the wardroom forward, the crew mess and<br />
galley amidships, and the chief petty officers’ mess and crew heads aft. Various officers’<br />
staterooms, the pharmacy, the post office, barber shop, disbursing office, and equipment<br />
rooms and lockers were fit in around this level.<br />
The 01 level next above supported one 3" double gun mount and two Hedgehog ASW<br />
projectors forward, with the second 3" gun mount and the middle 5" gun turret positioned<br />
aft. On most units the 3" guns and the Hedgehogs were eventually removed, and the space<br />
thus freed up forward was sometimes enclosed to provide additional accommodation. The<br />
torpedoes tubes were mounted amidships on this level, with electronics rooms in the<br />
amidships deckhouses and the radio rooms, operations office, and captain’s stateroom in<br />
the forward deckhouse.<br />
The 02 level contained the bridge, pilot house, chartroom, combat information center, and<br />
the electronic countermeasures room. The 03 level formed a signaling platform around the<br />
target designation equipment room and supported the forward gun director on the 04 level<br />
above. The aft gun director was on the 03 level just aft of the second funnel.<br />
B. Mechanical Features<br />
1. Propulsion machinery: The propulsion machinery was divided into two pairs of<br />
compartments. Forwardmost was the no. 1 fireroom, containing two boilers plus feed-water<br />
pumps and other auxiliaries. Just aft of it was the no. 1 engine room, with a geared turbine<br />
52 This description of the Forrest Sherman–class destroyers is based on site visits to ex-Turner Joy, ex-<br />
Forrest Sherman, and ex-Edson and on U.S. Navy, Booklet of Plans for DD 951 [USS Turner Joy], Bureau<br />
of Ships plan no. DD951–845-17, corrected to Feb. 9, 1979, copy made available by the Bremerton<br />
Historic Ships Association.
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
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set to starboard to drive the starboard propeller and two turbo-generators to port. The no. 2<br />
fireroom and no. 2 engine room, positioned to drive the port propeller, were set up in<br />
mirror image to the forward machinery rooms.<br />
The high-temperature, high-pressure boilers were rated for 1,200 psi steam. In eleven hulls<br />
they were manufactured by the Babcock & Wilcox Co.; in the remaining seven hulls, the<br />
boilers were by Foster Wheeler Corporation. 53<br />
The turbine sets comprised paired high- and low-pressure turbines coupled through a<br />
double-reduction gear to the propeller shafts. The engines were designed to generate 35,000<br />
shp each for a combined power of 70,000 shp and a designed speed of 33 knots. General<br />
Electric manufactured the turbines and reduction gearing for all hulls except DD 931–933,<br />
which were made by Westinghouse. 54<br />
3. Electrical system: Each vessel had four 500 kW steam turbo-generators for main ship’s<br />
service as well as two 100kW AC diesel emergency generators. 55<br />
4. Weapons systems: see section 1.A.4, “Original Plans,” above.<br />
PART III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION<br />
A. Primary Sources<br />
Forrest Sherman (DD 931) historical records. Ships’ History Branch. Naval History and<br />
Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.<br />
B. Secondary Sources<br />
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs.<br />
Blackman, Raymond V. B., ed. Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1971–72. New York: McGraw-Hill Book<br />
Co., 1971.<br />
Colton, Tim. “Destroyers built since World War II.” Shipbuilding History.<br />
http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/navalships/destroyers3.htm.<br />
Delgado, James P. National Historic Landmarks nomination for “USS Edson (DD-946),” U.S.<br />
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1990.<br />
Friedman, Norman. U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Md.: Naval<br />
Institute Press, 2004.<br />
53 Babcock & Wilcox made the boilers in DD 931–933, 940–942, 945–947, and 950–951; Foster<br />
Wheeler made those in 936–938, 943–944, 948–949; Moore, Jane’s American Fighting Ships, 168.<br />
54 Moore, Jane’s American Fighting Ships, 168.<br />
55 Friedman, U.S. Destroyers, 482; main turbogenerator capacity ascertained by author from<br />
builder’s plate during site visit to ex-Forrest Sherman.
Forrest Sherman–class destroyers<br />
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Page 20<br />
Moïse, Edwin E. Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War. Chapel Hill: University of<br />
North Carolina Press, 1996.<br />
Moore, John, ed. Jane’s American Fighting Ships of the 20th Century. New York: Mallard Press,<br />
1991.<br />
———, ed. Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1982–83. London: Jane’s Publishing Co., 1982.<br />
———, ed. Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1987–88. London: Jane’s Publishing Co., 1987.<br />
“New Class of Large Destroyers Under Construction.” All Hands (November 1953), 36.<br />
Osborne, Eric W. Destroyers: An Illustrated History of their Impact. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-<br />
CLIO, 2005.<br />
U.S. Navy. Booklet of Plans for DD 951. Bureau of Ships plan no. DD951–845-17, corrected<br />
to Feb. 9, 1979. Copy preserved by the Bremerton Historic Ships Association.<br />
U.S. Navy. Inactive Ships Program Web site.<br />
http://www.navsea.navy.mil/teamships/Inactiveships/default.aspx.<br />
Venable, R. W. and R. F. ErkenBrack. “Navy’s Newest Destroyer” Bureau of Ships Journal 2,<br />
no. 3 (July 1953): 2–4.<br />
D. Likely Sources Not Yet Investigated<br />
Historical records for DD 932–933, 940–42, 945–47, 936–38, 943–44, 948–949, 950–951. Ships’<br />
History Branch. Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.